Baby Furniture is Officially Ready

I came home on Friday afternoon (about 2 weeks ago - sorry I'm late in my blogging!) from work and Jonathan had primed all of our wicker baby furniture! I was so excited. He also painted a finishing semi-gloss on them Saturday afternoon. We got new knobs for the dresser, and it looks so great! I’m ready to start filling little man’s dresser with all his clothes, diapers, and necessities. The time is going by so fast…

He didn't paint the headboard or mirror because they still look great.  The mirror will go above the dresser in the baby's room, but obviously the headboard will have to go in storage for a little while.

Below are the photos of the updated furniture.  The only thing I don't have a photo of is the TV Stand - which opens from the front with two doors - I don't really plan to use this in the baby's room anyways.  I think I'll make it a night stand in another room, but I'm so glad it's all completed!  He did such a wonderful job!

Dresser with new knobs from Target…

Book Shelves…

 Rocking Chair with cushion to match the colors of the room…

Toy/Hope Chest...the top hasn't been put back on yet

In case you didn't notice, it's not really organized in the room because we will be moving, so I just have it stored in the room for now.  But have no fear...I have already decorated little man's room in my mind - I can't wait to actually complete his sweet nursery!

House Hunting is Finally Finished!!

I hope I don't speak (or blog) too soon, but we placed an offer on the cutest house in Somerville yesterday and they countered back within two hours of us placing the offer.  We accepted it immediately...we are going to be home owners!! 

The house is in need of some repairs (and I will post inside photos once we close and it's officially ours!), but we are willing and able to do the work...and by we I mean Jonathan.  I'm happy to help with as much as I can, but how much help is a 7 1/2 month pregnant woman really going to be?  I can't paint, or be around any of the "bad" fumes, so it'll be cleaning and moving little things that I can do...and decorate! :)

Once we close I will be 29 Weeks pregnant- sliding into that third trimester!  It's also the week before Thanksgiving, so needless to say, we will be working hard to move in before the baby, but prime holiday season will also be upon us. 

The house is only a few miles from the Somerville town square and it's on 7 acres.  It has three bedrooms and two and a half baths.  We cannot wait to get our hands on it and start making it ours!  We will need to paint every room in the house, rip up linoleum flooring throughout (even in the bedrooms!), add laminate hardwood and carpet throughout, update light fixtures, change the counter tops in the kitchen, and purchase appliances like a washer, dryer, refrigerator, and dishwasher. 

We are so excited about this new stage in our lives.  We have had such a peace about this house and it's just amazing to see God working in miraculous ways. 

Our GOAL is to be in the house by the second week of January (the baby should be here the first week of February), so we will be cutting it close, but really hoping to meet our goal as closely as possible.

I'll keep you posted on our progress!

Camping

You either love it or hate it! We love to camp. I had never camped before we were married.

The first time J and I camped together (he has been camping his whole life), we had been to a wedding in Camden, TN and were going to stay the night somewhere around Natchez Trace and meet his parents the next morning to go on the boat all day. Jonathan suggested purchasing a small tent and some food as opposed to paying for a hotel room….I thought he was kidding, but to my surprise he was 100% serious. I literally had NOTHING but dress clothes (from the rehearsal dinner and the bridesmaid’s dress I was wearing) and my bathing suit and cover up. We stopped by Wal-mart and purchased a small tent, cooler, and hotdogs to cook for dinner. That was labor day 2008. Then began my love of camping…

This weekend was somewhat of a spur of the moment decision. I asked Wednesday afternoon if I could take off Friday. We went to breakfast with my grandmother on Friday morning and then headed out around lunch time. We got to Natchez and set up camp around 2pm. I had tickets to the JCS Consignment Sale in Jackson for that afternoon at 5, so we quickly set up and went back into town for the sale. I got a few maternity sweaters and pants, and a few things for little man, and then we got a few necessities we forgot at Wal-mart and headed back to camp.

Once we got set up J wanted to make sure his climing stand was ready for the morning.  He was just chillin up there enjoying the weather!

When we got back to the campsite we were told by the people who run the camping area that there is a ban on fires right now in Tennessee, so we couldn’t use an open fire to cook with…well FYI…that’s how we ALWAYS cook – we do have a small propane double burner, but it’s not going to cook things like kabobs and hotdogs – we didn’t have anything else for this. We asked them what we were supposed to do and he just said…well I’m just here to tell you what we are told…what you do is up to you, so can you guess? We had a fire! We had chili dogs on Friday night and some roasted marsh mellows…YUM! My favorite camping meal of all times (well technically just my favorite meal).

 

We had fun just relaxing by the fire with nothing specific to do. J got up early (5am) Saturday morning and went hunting with Tyson, because he lives within 15 minutes of where we are staying and they don’t get to see each other as much now that they are not in school together. They both came back and we had a spread for breakfast…pancakes, hash browns, eggs, bacon, and sausage. Tyson left shortly after breakfast and we decided to take a leisurely nature walk…that turned into somewhat of a nightmare.

I wanted to find some pretty acorns and festive fall décor that I could use at home. We starting walking around 11:30 or so and found a trail that would lead us “around the lake” and back to the campsite – it was about a 4 mile hike, so we thought it would be fun and maybe take a little over an hour. I got some pretty photos before we got too far into the hike.

Needless to say, the trail was not just 4 miles – it was more like 8-10 miles of hills, very little sight of the lake, and a ton of fallen trees and thorns to try and avoid. We finally got out to an actual gravel road around 3:45 and started walking for at least a mile when a truck came down the road…I begged J to ask if they could take us to the end of the road – and the obliged…I think they noticed I was pregnant and even offered to drop us off at the camp site – THANK YOU JESUS!! I was so thankful. I had been praying the whole time we were on the gravel road that someone would drive by and offer to take us back…I was definitely at the breaking point – I was ready to just start crying and say I was done! J offered to let me hide in the woods and he would come back and pick me up – you see I’m not usually such a weenie, but that day my hip had started hurting, and about 1 mile into the walk, both were bothering me. We were so tired, dehydrated, hungry, and in so much pain! We finally got back to the campsite around 4:30 and made lunch, and crashed!

We napped for about two and a half hours and then went to get showers and started making dinner. We had chicken kabobs, green beans, corn, and toast…it was so good. As you can probably tell, my favorite part about camping is the food…I love eating over an open fire. Sunday morning we woke up and took our time going about breakfast and breaking down. We actually ran out of propane, so I had to cook all of breakfast over the fire that morning. We had omelets and hash browns. We finally got packed up and left Natchez around 11:00 or so. It’s so fun just to have a relaxing weekend with nothing to worry about, and really get to spend quality time together – with no television, house cleaning, or other distractions – it was our last time to go camping any time soon just the two of us!
Hope you had a fun and relaxing weekend as well!

I just love all the many parts of the fall season!  It's so cool to see all the leaves changing...how amazing that God made that as just part of the season...so miraculous!

 



Blessed Beyond Words

I was driving to work this morning and was thinking about how amazing the Lord is and how much he has blessed our little family over the past two and a half years.  Before we were married, I knew that the Lord provided, and I had seen His blessings in the ways that He blessed my family with school, jobs, etc, but I guess the first hand - continual blessings - just amaze me!  I know that God is Powerful and Provides - I just have to trust!

I just wanted to make mention of a few things that have just blown me away since we have gotten married.

1. We had no clue where we were going to live just a few short months before the wedding.  The Lord provided a small farm house to be our first home.  It had no heat and no air conditioning - but we had each other and He protected and provided for us in our time of need.  --God is so much bigger than we sometimes allow Him to be - I'm glad that He doesn't hold back when we can't see the full picture.

2.  God provides you exactly what you need - in order to make you grateful for what you have, and also to prepare you for the future.  We had no neighbors - well 2,500 head of cattle, corn, and tractor equipment.  I learned to be thankful for a roof over my head and food to eat.  We made the rest work - living on love!

3.  I'm looking forward to heat during the winter time - and not a wood burning stove for warmth.  I'm learning to be thankful for the simple things in life - like not depending on cut wood and where we are going to find it this month.

4.  I wouldn't trade the two years we lived in Martin on that farm for the world!  I know that God is preparing us for something special - and those years will help us to do His will.

5. The Lord prepared me for J's knee surgery and all the many bills we would have to fight to get paid from working at East Memphis Surgery Center before we were married.  Also, fighting all of this and dealing day in and day out with medical bills again prepaired me for the job I took in Insurance when we moved home.  It gave me a much better understanding of how people felt and also how to deal with the companies. 

6.We are having a baby in February and I have been worrying (it has trippled since I am pregnant) about how we are going to pay for a newer vehicle and a house - or if I just needed to keep the Malibu I currently drive.  It just so happens that my inlaws are looking at getting my mother in law a new vehicle and offered for us to purchase her 2002 Suburban - with exactly what I've been looking for in it.  We are going to be able to sell my car and use the cash from that and exactly what we have in savings for this vehicle - once again we will have two cars that we paid cash for...such a blessing!
                                         
                                      
8.  We are looking for a home, and we almost placed an offer on one that I had fallen in love with, but the bathrooms were rotting out from under the house, so we didn't put an offer in - in hind sight - it would have been too far out for us and J says I would have never been up for the continual drive - God knows what he's doing!

8.  I am praying for His hand in our house hunting, and that if it's supposed to work out, it will.  I don't want us to rush into anything...he knows where we need to be and what we need to be doing.  I pray for guidance and direction in the months and years to come.

How has God blessed your family?

Feeling the little booger…

Today I am 22 weeks and 2 days.  Little man is now the size of a papaya (8inches, 1.2 pounds).

I finally started to feel our little man moving about a week ago. I wasn’t sure if I was right in what I thought I was feeling because it was so low. I mentioned it to my mom on Saturday at the football game and she confirmed that I was right in my assumptions. The doctor had told me that my amnionic sac is lining the front of my stomach, so it would take longer for me to actually feel him. 

Last night we were laying in bed and I had my hand on my stomach and I all the sudden felt him kick. I told J to lightly put his hand where mine was, and then he got to feel him! What a magical experience. We are so excited about what the Lord has in store for our little fellow. I just can’t wait to hold this little gift we created.

MSU

We went to the Mississippi State football game on Saturday. They played Alcorn State and slaughtered them. We went with my parents and tailgated with their tailgating group. I thought this was funny that that they did this (especially not really knowing very many people), but it turns out that they know a lot more people than they thought they would, and it’s really fun! We sat 12 rows from the top of the stadium, so needless to say we were pretty high, but they were still really good seats. It was really cool to actually be at an SEC football game (this was my first). The bands performed before the teams came back on the field to start the game and I found that absolutely fascinating. It was such a fun day…I was so exhausted by the end of the day…the pregnant woman had to climb stairs about 5 times because of my little bladder now! When we finally got home I slept 11.5 hours straight…

Atlanta Bound

So it's Friday and I'm just getting around to posting about my big weekend (last weekend!).  I took off last Thursday afternoon and headed to Atlanta.  I stayed with my cousin, her husband, and three adorable children for Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and flew back Monday morning. 

Can I just say they are B-U-S-Y!!  I don't think we ever stopped, but I had a blast the whole time.  I got in late Thursday night, but Friday we met the kids for lunch and also went to a consignment sale that is held at Buck head every year in a parking garage.  It seemed to have been a bit picked over, but it was still fun to go and rummage around everything.  We got back to the house just in time for the bus to drop of the kids.  That night was relaxing and we had dinner at their house and enjoyed a peaceful night...as much as you can with three children under 10! 

When someone special comes for lunch, Landon's class sings for them.  He had to sing a solo, then a duo, and then a trio.  He did such a great job, and I wish I had a video camera.  I know it's not the best photo (used my iPhone for all of these) but for the trio, they sang the months of the year to the tune of the macarena.  It was adorable and hilarious at the same time!

On Saturday, we went to the park with all of Landon and Sydney's friends and they played while the mom's any myself walked around the track - the first mile and a half I have done the whole time I've been pregnant.  I felt great after, but was completely worn out.  We also tried a new yogurt store that was having free frozen yogurt with toppings for their grand opening, so all 14 kids, 3 moms, and myself all tried this great place called Fro-Yo.  It was good, but I wouldn't say it's my favorite ice cream place.

Saturday night we went to The Village Burger in Dunwoody, which was amazing.  I don't really like burgers, but the burgers were well worth it. Sunday we went to church and it rained all day, so it was a fairly quiet afternoon.  My cousin Doug and his wife and three kids came over that night for dinner...6 children = a little overwhelming.  I don't think it would have been if I wasn't pregnant because it's never bothered me before when we all get together, but I think the lack of sleep and all the activity wore me out!  I had a blast getting to see everyone and am glad I was able to go before the baby gets here...who knows when the next time I'll have a chance to make it to good 'ol Atlanta. 

**I have set this picture correct 100 times, but every time I upload it, it turns like this, but you at least get the idea...

I have to share these pics...we decided it would be cool to make spider desserts for the kids dessert.  It all innocent honesty, we didn't think it would be a mess, and thought that they would think it was cool.  See the results:

They were pretty much covered in chocolate from head to toe...this was after we made them wash their arms and hands...really it was everywhere!

We are off to Starkville bright and early in the morning for the football game.  I hope everyone has a great weekend!  hopefully I'll have better photos to post when I get back from this trip as opposed to the last!